Linocut in Progress: Can you say "Oops"? Again?

The problem with erratic print time is that I also apply erratic brain cells to the process and as a result I get erratic... erraticness. Erraticity? Erratification?

Whatever. I got problems.

My theory was that a nice, very transparent blue over the entire block would create shadows in the red flower and tone down the background overall. It was a good theory, but....

Paintbrush linocut: Step 8 mistake!

Whoa. All the life went out of the flower. Paintbrush (for that's what this is supposed to be) are renowned for their intense color and this is not it.

So. I cleaned the block and scraped the inking slab. I used the same blue in the lower half of the block, but ran a nice, juicy red across the top. Blended roll number.... whatever. I've lost count.

Once again these colors appear over-the-top intense, but transparency is a wonderful thing.

Paintbrush linocut: Step 8, improved

Better, wouldn't you say? The flower is looking good. I'm not happy with how many layers of ink are already living in the background, but it's too late to do anything about it now!

I carved some more and THEN I went back to the same transparent blue and ran it over the entire block.

Okay! Now I have a red flower with some darker shadow areas and can finally get on with resolving the background. The bulk of the flower area will now be removed from the block and hopefully the rest will go smoothly. All this mucking about means I've already lost 4 of the initial 20 prints. Oh, well... as they say... "It's a learning experience." (Commence eye rolling behavior)

It's a holiday weekend here in the States (read: Hooray! More time to get work done!)... However you're spending it, I hope it's a good one!